Vineyards
The work in the vineyard does not provide the foundation for our wines...it makes the whole wine.
All the flavor and aromatic elements of the wine are due to how we work in the vineyard.
In the cellar, then, the only task is to transfer all that the vineyard has produced into the final wine.
The essence is a living and functioning soil, a living and functioning ecosystem.
We do not use any fertilizers, including natural ones. Each plant is therefore dependent on its own root system.
The vines react more strongly to the different conditions in different parts of the vineyard and then pass on this ‘terroir detail’ to the grapes, which in turn pass it on to the wine.
A low yield means a more pronounced, non-diluted terroir imprint in the final wine.
And the strongest terroir only comes from old vines. That’s why old vines are our treasure. These vines have deep roots, they are in harmony with the place, they know exactly what to do.
They don’t try to produce as many grapes as younger vines do. They no longer have the strength, but they have the wisdom and that deep connection with the place. And all of that is then reflected in the grapes and then in the resulting wine.
Šibeniční hora
Here we grow Frankovka / Blaufränkisch.
The Šibeniční hora (“Gallows Hill”) vineyard is southwest of town. It is a total of four terraces of “Šibeniční vrch” hill(297 m above sea level).
Originally, it was a gentle hill with a south to south-east orientation, but in the 1960s it was converted into terraces.
Our plot, is the second terrace, with a south and southeast orientation, the average altitude is 257 m above sea level.
The granodiorite here is at a depth of about 3 m.
Šibeniční hora is our youngest vineyard, it was planted in 2003.
From here come the wines Vox silentium and in some vintages also Rose inferni and Rose & Cross.
Interestingly, the gallows really used to be here (2 terraces up).
The last execution was burning alive for arson on 21 August 1754.
Karlov
Here we grow, on 2 different sites, Saint Laurent and Sauvignon blanc.
The Karlov vineyard forms most of the hill north of the town, on both sides of the road.
At the top of the hill is a classicist cross from 1783 and the building of the original pub for wagoners.
Saint Laurent has an almost westerly exposure, a gentle slope with an average altitude of 283 metres. The granodiorite here is almost at the surface in some places, but at most at a depth of about 1 metre.
The vineyard was established in 1977.
From here comes Ex monte lapis and in some vintages also Rosa inferni.
The Sauvignon blanc then has a purely southern orientation, a gentle slope with an average altitude of 285. And the granodiorite is at 2 and a half meters (but here it’s more accurately biotite-amphibole granodiorite to diorite).
This is a 1980 vineyard.
From here comes Mille e tre.
Interestingly, the Sauvignon was originally (before the unfortunate merging of the vineyard names) in the “Nová hora” (“New hill”) vineyard.
And the Saint Laurent then was the “Kamenný vrch” (“Stone hill”) vineyard rather than Karlov.
Nová města
Here we grow frankovka / blaufränkisch, Saint Laurent and Malvasia.
The Nová města vineyard is the largest local vineyard with a total area of about 60 hectares. It is located south of the town on a small rise to the left of the road to Trboušany.
Frankovka / blaufränkisch has a southern orientation with an altitude of 230 - 250 m above sea level.
From here comes Vox in excelso and in some vintages also Rose inferni and Rose & Cross.
We have Saint Laurent in two different places, one is identical to Frankovka / blaufrankisch and the other has an eastern and south-eastern exposure with an altitude of 238 m above sea level.
From here comes Ex opere operato I and II and in some vintages also Rose inferni and Rose & Cross.
Malvasia is then on the terrace with eastern exposure above the river and the road Dolní Kounice - Pravlov with an altitude of 220 m above sea level.
The Prima nocta comes from here.
The granodiorite is at a depth of about 2 metres at Nové Město.
Malvasia has biotic granodiorite, Frankovka has biotite-amphibolic granodiorite up to diorite and in Saint Laurent the two types meet and so it has both.
It is interesting to note that in 1549, the Vice-Chancellor of the Czech Kingdom, Jiří Žabka of Limberk, founded a new and ideal town of Jiříkov in the place of today’s vineyard with frankovka.
The Emperor Ferdinand I permitted Jiříkov to have a market and gave the town the coat of arms, a red shield on which a half-man with a hoe wearing a wreath of grapes is above the gate.
Unfortunately, after the death of Lord Žabka in 1564, Jiříkov is listed only as deserted.
Proterozoic granodiorite
Granodiorite is mentioned in all our vineyards. It is found at various depths, from a few centimetres to a few metres. At this depth the rock begins.
Closer to the surface, it is more eroded and contains more cracks, but as the depth increases, the cracks become fewer and fewer.
In all cases, however, this means that the roots of the vines get into this rock and have to search for water and nutrients in the cracks.
Some studies cite an age of 425 million years for the local granodiorite. Most others (including maps of the Czech Geological Survey) list the origin as the Proterozoic (more accurately, the youngest part of the Proterozoic, called the Neoproterozoic), which is dated at 1,000 to 542 million years. Therefore, we give the age of the local granodiorite as 600 million years.
Life on Earth is still very rare during the Proterozoic period. The first organisms with a cell nucleus, algae and fungi, are just beginning to emerge.
The first dinosaurs didn’t appear on Earth for another 400 million years until the Jurassic.
And why is granodiorite (or “stone” in general) important for wine?
Most Moravian and worldwide vineyards are on young and relatively nutrient-rich soils. Often this is loess or river sediment, soils formed 2.5 million years ago.
But if we are looking for something more, uniqueness, complexity and personality in wine, then it is almost always vineyards on ‘rock’, limestone or granite (+150 million years old or more).
This specific soil is then reflected in the resulting wine, from its structure, to its higher and more layered acidity, to its long and complex flavour.
And that’s why our motto is: